A Florida mailman flew his gyro-copter onto the US Capitol lawn this afternoon and was almost blown to bits by security.

The Florida mailman who caused a major security scare when he landed his gyro-copter on the US Capitol lawn on Wednesday afternoon was just seconds from being shot out of the sky.

House Homeland Security panel Chairman Michael McCaul revealed that Capitol authorities had Doug Hughes, 61, in their sights and were prepared to open fire.

‘Had it gotten any closer to the speaker’s balcony they have long guns to take it down, but it didn’t. It landed right in front,’ McCaul said about the flight which was undetected until authorities actually saw the craft approach.

However, Hughes claims he informed the Secret Service and Capitol police of his potentially lethal stunt into the no-fly zone, which was designed to draw attention to campaign finance reform and government corruption.

Speaking prior to the flight and just days after a man shot himself dead in front of the Capitol on Saturday causing panic, Hughes appeared confident he would survive his ‘insane’ protest.

‘I don’t believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 61-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle,’ said Hughes of the latest embarrassment for White House and Capitol security.

Indeed, NORAD reported that they did not scramble any assets and were not informed of the flight until it had landed.

And local Washington D.C. response helicopter units designed to deal with slow moving targets admitted they did not react either.